HYPERTEXT

Hypertext

· What is Hypertext?

Hypertext conceives information as nodes and link networks forming navigable paths that can be toured, returned to and referenced.

It is a non-linear way of presenting information as below diagram. Instead of reading or learning about things in the order that predefined by author, editor or publishers, readers of hypertext may follow their own path; create their own order – their own meaning out of the material.

This is accomplished by creating "links" between information (Nodes). These links are provided so that the readers may "jump" to further information about a specific topic being discussed (which may have more links, leading each reader off into a different direction).

Diagram below represent a simple framework how hypertext links different nodes with each other.

linkage_of_nodes

Nevertheless, it would be impossible to define the nature and function of the hypertext without naming the fathers of this “new” format: the original idea dates back to 1945, when Vannevar Bush in his article As We May Think presented the Memex device. This idea was born out of the need to create an I.T. system which, as with the human mind, could operate by association and not in linear fashion, as Bush outlined in his article:

“Let us consider a future apparatus for individual use which is a type of private, mechanized filing system and library. It requires a name. To pick one at random we could call it “Memex”. A Memex is an apparatus with which people can store all their books, files and communications and is mechanized, so that it might be consulted with great speed and flexibility. It is a personal, increased supplement of a person’s memory.”

Nonetheless, the term Hypertext would not be properly mentioned until the 1970s, when it was coined by Ted Nelson, a young man interested in the work of Bush and who, like his predecessor, was searching for a clearer organization of the contents of a complex source of data and who, after many years of study and analysis, has provided us with extensive research into the field of the hypertext.

· Advanteges and disadvanteges of Hypertext

This type of text, in contrast to traditional texts, distances itself from a sequential structure and bases itself on a multi-linear structure. Nevertheless, we should not make the mistake of thinking that hypertext models do not follow a narrative course, given that the reader selects his own personal path and in doing so constructs his own linear reading of the text. The user opens up his own path based on a series of selections or choices which enable the reader to progress within the story.

In short, hypertext offers an interesting way of ordering data and subjects around a concrete text, via a system of personal selections of associations which multiply the reading possibilities and convert the reader into an important active factor within the narrative. However, this format cannot be adapted to all text types, since hypertexts require a great deal of freedom of movement, something which not all authors are willing to grant their works, they are a format which can be manipulated by its readers, and which possess a wide information base, structured through a complex system of links. Hypertext is only appropriate for those texts whose narrative can be enriched by the recovery of this information.

INTRODUCTION HYPERTEXT STRUCTURE TOOLS CONCLUSION SECOND PAPER

Universitat de València Press